Tag: Private Prisons

The Florida Senate today put the kabosh on Republican plans to turn 30 state prisons into the largest private prison complex in the country. Florida incarcerates more than 100,000 inmates, making it the third largest incarcerator in the country (Only Texas and Calfornia have more inmates.).

If lawmakers want to save money in our prison system, they should reform mandatory minimum sentencing, invest in re-entry programs and re-visit parole policies that feed the addiction to incarceration and throw people into the revolving door that is our prison system. Privatization schemes, often coupled with inflated claims of cost savings, distract policymakers from an inescapable truth: The best way to reduce prison spending is to reduce the number of people we imprison.

“Research has shown that private prisons do not save taxpayer dollars and can in fact cost taxpayers more than public prisons. Additionally, privatizing prisons may undermine cost effective sentencing reforms and increase recidivism rates. Despite these well­-documented concerns, private prison companies continue to promote policies that put money in their pockets and people behind bars.”

The company is California-based Court Services Inc. (CSI), which denies the allegations. In the case Hooper explores today, a prisoner being transferred from San Diego to Aspen, Sheriff Bob Braudis is not only refusing to pay the company's fee, he's reimbursing the prisoner's mother and sister for their travel expenses to Aspen, where they went to protest what happened.

In other words, the sheriff's office is bankrolling the protest of its own jail.“We’re going to pay for their expenses out here,” said [Undersheriff Joe] DiSalvo, estimating the cost at around $1,300. “They should be compensated for bringing something that’s really important to us — a human rights issue — to our attention. If they hadn’t picketed, we probably would’ve kept using that service.”